Sekhukhune spoil Chiefs’ birthday party celebrations

This was supposed to be a night of birthday celebrations for Kaizer Chiefs but Sekhukhune United didn’t get the memo.

Amakhosi needed the three points to cap the club’s 53rd birthday celebrations but their visitors had other ideas as they left this iconic venue as the ones celebrating a much-needed 1-0 win.

This result is significant for Sekhukhune as they have moved out of the relegation zone to tenth spot on the standings and is huge motivation for recently appointed coach Brandon Truter.

For Amakhosi and their coach Zwane, they missed out on an opportunity to possibly move to second spot on goal difference ahead of SuperSport United who lost to Golden Arrows earlier in the day.

This also means that Chiefs are now 13 points behind runaway leaders Mamelodi Sundowns, who have won their last nine league matches, at the midway stage of the campaign.

Zwane started the match with the same team that beat Golden Arrows 2-0 last weekend, once again showing faith in emerging 20-year-old midfielder Samkelo Zwane but he had an underwhelming night.

For the visitors, Truter rang only two changes with goalkeeper Badra Sangare replacing Toaster Nsabata between the sticks and midfielder Siyabulela Shai replaced by Sammy Seabi.

One of the major talking points of the early exchanges arrived after 15 minutes when play was temporarily stopped by referee Siyabulela Qunta to receive medical attention after he collided with Keagan Dolly.

Chiefs had the most attacking opportunities but they lacked the killer instinct when they arrived in the Sekhukhune danger area with players like Caleb Bimenyimana, Reeve Frosler and Nkosingiphile Ngcobo wasting opportunities.

Sekhukhune opened the scoring shortly after the halftime restart when Vusimuzi Mncube stole the ball that was fumbled by Chiefs defender Dove Wome before beating Itumeleng Khune.

In a match on Saturday afternoon, Golden Arrows beat SuperSport United 2-1 with goals from Nduduzo Sibiya and Knox Mutizwa finding the back of the net for the hosts in Durban to move to fifth spot on the table.

Thabang Sibanyoni got a late consolation goal for United but they remain in second spot despite the defeat.

In another match, Maritzburg United beat Marumo Gallants 1-0 as they benefited from an own goal by Tshepo Gumede to move from the bottom of the log.

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